Immune suppression is a very stable property of multipotent stromal cells also known as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). were compared with cord blood MSCs. Putative immune suppressive candidates were tested to explain this inhibition. We find that cord blood MSCs themselves are hardly immunogenic as tested with allogeneic T-cells. Dendritic cells cocultured with second-party T-cells evoked abundant proliferation that was inhibited by third-party cord blood MSCs. Optimal inhibition was seen with one cord blood MSC for every dendritic cell. Blocking human leukocyte antigen G only saw partial recovery of proliferation. Several cytokines gangliosides enzymes like arginase NO synthase and indole amine 2 3 as well as the induction of Treg STAT5 Inhibitor were not involved in the inhibition. The inhibiting moiety was identified as prostaglandin B2 by lipid metabolite analysis of the culture supernatant and confirmed with purified prostaglandin B2. Introduction Human umbilical cord blood (UCB) not only contains hematopoietic but also multipotent stromal cells STAT5 Inhibitor also known as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) [1-3]. An adherent nonhematopoietic CD45? cell population was isolated from cord blood and termed unrestricted somatic stem cell (USSC) [4]. USSCs are a separate pluripotent class of stem cells that have the ability to differentiate into many cell types including osteoblasts chondrocytes adipocytes hepatocytes neural progenitors and improved left-ventricular function [4-6]. STAT5 Inhibitor In culture USSCs can be expanded up to 1015 cells without losing their pluripotency [4 7 Distinctive of bone marrow MSCs expression of ICAM-3 (CD50) L-selectin (CD62L) and VCAM (CD106) is not expressed STAT5 Inhibitor by USSCs [8]. USSCs were classified of a distinct MSC population based on microarray expression data [9]. Therefore it is suggested STAT5 Inhibitor that USSCs represent an immature mesodermal progenitor for MSCs. MSCs are of inherently low immunogenicity and more importantly are capable of inhibiting allogeneic T-lymphocyte responses [10-14]. The molecular mechanisms reported for the immunosuppressive effects of MSCs are multiple. The reports that describe a potential role of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) as mediators of T-lymphocyte inhibition are still controversial but in general most studies agree that soluble factors are involved [11-13 15 MSCs express only a few toll-like receptors [16] and their triggering only produces a limited cytokine response due to promoter silencing [17] illustrating their low immunogenicity. On the other hand USSCs induce an increased interleukin (IL)-12 response in mature dendritic cells [18] leading to a higher immune response. Of particular interest is the observation that in vivo administration of MSCs in baboons significantly prolongs the survival of major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-mismatched skin grafts [10]. In humans treatment of patients with MSCs to repair tissues remains elusive [19-22]; however MSCs showed effective reduction of graft-versus-host disease [23-25]. Since USSCs are obtained from umbilical cord an organ connecting two only haplo identical individuals additional immune CD320 suppressive mechanisms were expected. We find that contact is STAT5 Inhibitor essential in this process but that the suppressive effect is mediated by soluble factors. Here we demonstrate that the classical immune suppressors reported for adult MSCs like gangliosides NO synthase arginase indole amine 2 3 (IDO) IL-10 human leukocyte antigen G (HLA-G) TGF-β and induction of Treg are marginal suppressive factors in USSC-mediated suppression. The suppressive entity is small prompting us to analyze lipid metabolites. Analysis showed that PGB2 is present in the supernatant of those cultures and purified PGB2 showed inhibition of T-cell proliferation. Materials and Methods Generation and expansion of USSCs USSCs were successfully generated according to K?gler et al. [4]. In short cord blood was collected from the umbilical cord vein with informed consent of the mother [26]. The mononuclear cell fraction was obtained by a Ficoll (Biochrom) density barrier separation followed by ammonium chloride lysis of red blood cells. Cells were washed twice with PBS (pH 7.4) and.